The news did not exactly come as
a surprise, but today's
announcement by Air Jamaica that
it will suspend its service to
Belize is the first hint of
negativity in a year that has thus
far seen nothing but positive
trends in the tourism industry.
The last Air Jamaica flight will depart the P.G.I.A. on
June first. Since inaugurating four times a week
service on November twenty-first of last year, the
passenger load never did reach critical mass. The
Belize City-Montego Bay flight could not survive on its
own and was always intended as a feeder for Air
Jamaica's longer and more lucrative tourist routes to
and from North America, particularly the heavily
populated east coast of the United States. The plan
was a good one, but it ran head on into a similar
strategy implemented by U.S. Air, using its Charlotte,
North Carolina hub to funnel passengers from those
same east coast cities to Belize. In the end only one
airline could survive and, in today's depressed market
for international air travel, it was Air Jamaica that
decided to bail out. Ironically, the silver lining for Air
Jamaica's departure is that the remaining carriers:
U.S. Air, American, Continental and TACA, should see
their business solidify and be in a better position to
add capacity for improved long term service to Belize.
In the end the only real losers will be those travellers
who, for the first time, could visit Jamaica and the
rest of the Caribbean without having to endure the
time, expense and visa requirements of passing
through Miami.